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1745/3 Half Crown

... and this is the first one to make me laugh out loud in months! https://1drv.ms/v/s!Alos83kNwyLnsTmNsA9U9mE4ZRkn (saved to my onedrive as I could not work out how to post it otherwise!)

Talking of poor strikes during the war years, this one has to be the worst I have ever seen. And its uncirculated

Couple of additions to my Maundy pennies.

I'm zeroing in on a couple, and I just wondered if anybody had any thoughts as to how scarce they are, given the extreme commonality of their non recessed counterparts? What, 1 in 10, 1 in 20? Obviously Freeman makes reference to them, but no quantitatively. Thanks in advance gents.

In my case, colours are a lottery. The camera will do as it pleases. It's about as consistent as autofocus, which again seems to be a random setting. I suspect I'm not the only person with this issue.

Reminds me of when I was about 13 or so, and my Mum, Dad, sister and I went to Bournemouth on holiday. Whilst there, I bought a novelty ash tray in the shape of a skull for My Grandfather (called Fred) who was a heavy smoker. On the ashtray was written, "Poor old Fred, smoked in bed". Being a stupid immature little brat, I thought it would be a great idea to give it to him for his birthday. I was soon dissuaded from carrying through the initiative, and had it on my bedside table instead. I think they call it gallows humour.

The reverse of the 1919 is a particularly nice strike, Paddy.

I have put a couple of decent pennies on Ebay - 1880 Penny dies 9 & L and a 1919 Penny. Auctions end Sunday 25th Nov. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352516391804 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352516393332 The latter in particular looks particularly good to me!

I wouldn't normally include a common or garden penny acquisition from George V, but am doing so on this occasion to exemplify a point. Now I've started to collect this series, a few things have quickly become very apparent to me. Whilst it is relatively easy to obtain high grade examples, the trick is to get high grade examples that are good strikes, with as much hair detail as possible, issue free and if at all possible, without ghosting being obvious, especially on pre 1926 examples. It's worth watchiing and waiting for these better examples to come up. Not going to be possible in every case, but I think this 1912 captures most of those qualities, although still a little thin on Britannia's chest, which is another common weak point. Incidentally, the obverse colour is close to actuality. Not sure why the reverse looks different in the pic. (There are many high grade specimens with full lustre, but the strikes are really poor, and the King often appears to have a bald head.)

The more common 'shield in garter' (S. 3808) type, my 1821 covers off the 'garnished shield' type (S. 3807)

This one tickled me from the paper today.

I suspect it is what Mary uses as a monogram for her work, it is also present on the Suffragette 50p, whereas her older work had the initials MMD.

It is the first symbol. Originally there was a symbol to designate when the coin was struck. This symbol is known as the mint mark, privy mark or initial mark and may be a cross, or something else. The mark changed following each pyx trial in medieval times, but prior to that the mark was almost always a cross.

Yes, decent 1915 examples very very hard to find.

A couple of Ebay finds from last week, both from the same vendor! The F763 was £29.95 and the 1861 Gouby G was £4.95. The latter would be an addition to Richard's 'Rarest Pennies' site. There appear to be at least three 1861 Gouby G die pairings on the site, this coin matching a couple of the other listed coins. Whether the actual staging of Gouby G can be determined is doubtful due to wear. While referencing the 'Rarest Pennies' site, where has the F38 gone? Too many of them? I did spot an unrecognised F763 at the Midland Coin Fair last weekend, but only about VG so I left it as it was from the same pair of dies as mine. Jerry

Because I believe that I've seen the original, which had all the same bag marks, but not the cud on the n of tenth. Here's the link.

I used to work at a soft drinks factory but got the sack because I couldn't concentrate and wasn't cordial to others. Then I tried being a velcro salesman but couldn't stick it.

Totally agree with Nons on the wordpress recommendation, I do exactly the same. It also helps with posting pics on here, I just copy/paste them into a reply such as this one! Here's another newbie I'm quite pleased with, could do with less bag chatter though ...

I know that auction houses may wish to set a low estimate to generate interest but a recent sale i have just been reading about (coin news) must of put a smile on the sellers face. An elderley lady whos husband had passed away took some banknotes wrapped in tissue paper to Tring market auction based in Hertfordshire. The late husband had been given the notes years earlier. Auction estimate was set at £500-700. Quite a lot of interest as they sold due to the specimen notes for...........£205,000.00 😮. I bet the lady enjoyed a drink that night 😂

Funnily enough, Pete, I actually managed to get a GVF/NEF specimen off e bay in 2012, for just £99.00. Quite happy with that as it's problem free.